Oracle’s Industry Connect has a long and storied lineage. This year’s event did not disappoint.

From mid-sized retailers like “Wiggle ” to larger retailers like Stage Stores, we heard stores of successful retailing and how technology has made a difference. And from Oracle executives like Mark Hurd, Mike Webster and Ray Carlin, we heard about new implementations, future roadmaps, and statements of direction. We also heard from strategic partners like Intel.

Ray Carlin, General Manager of Oracle’s Global Retail Unit talked about the pillars underpinning everything Oracle is doing and the reasons for them.

First there’s “Cloud First. ” Frequent readers know that I’m not a Cloud fanatic, so I was happy to hear that Cloud First doesn’t mean Cloud only. The company recognizes that Cloud apps will have to co-exist with on-premise application. Still, the company (like many vendors) believes that moving to Cloud insures more simplicity and agility, while application maturity still allows for choice.

Next, he discussed “Mobile Everywhere. ” The data and projections on mobile device adoption remain mind-boggling. Seventy-five billion connected devices are expected by 2025, and as we’ve heard before, that represents more connected devices than there are toothbrushes in the world.

Pillar three is “Better Together. ” Oracle has made commitments to integration across its multiple applications and rather enormous portfolios. Given Oracle’s substantial acquisition history, this is a bigger commitment than it seems. That’s a serious volume of applications to string together seamlessly.

Pillar four is “Modern Retailing. ” This represents their commitment to bring innovations to the marketplace. The largest retail tech vendors are singing the Cognitive Computing song, and Oracle is no exception. It’s really up to each retailer to decide when that Cognitive Computing is helpful, and when it’s intrusive.

Pillar five is “leveraging technology and scale. “This was a discussion of Oracle’s commitment to R&D going forward.

Jeff Warren, Vice President of Retail Strategy and Solutions Management followed with a discussion of Oracle’s latest merchandising operations system release, v.16. He acknowledged what I’ve often called the elephant in the room. If a retailer has a customized version of Oracle Retail, the list of customizations may have been lost in the ensuing decade-plus since implementation. They’ve asked for a blueprint to work on how to move to onto a modern merchandising platform and apparently Oracle and its partners are ready to help.

Most surprising to me was the list of retailers who have committed to v.16, which follows the company’s five pillar philosophy.

Mike Webster, Senior Vice President and General Manager talked about the convergence of retail and hospitality. We’ve believed this at RSR for some time. Obviously there are nuances associated with hotel stays and room rates, but most other customer-facing functions are pretty similar – even beyond the gift shop.

What I really liked about the customer success story portion of the program was the emphasis on business process and value. Wiggle, a company that basically sells everything you need for a triathalon, for example, talked about how technology enabled the company to scale rapidly after a large acquisition. Stage Stores talked about the efficiencies they gained in their eCommerce journey by improving product attributing and workflow.

We’ve reached a point in the evolution of retail technology where we generally expect it to work out of the box. The bigger challenge is for each company to determine how it will work for them. Retailers should adjust workflows and modernize processes to take advantage of these tools, without compromising their core value proposing.

I was really glad to attend Oracle Industry Connect this year and look forward to tracking progress in the coming years.